Category Archives: Travel

To go on a trip, usually over a long distance, or as if on a trip or tour : journey.

Archaeoastronomy, Travel

The Pantheon

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The Pantheon in Rome is one of the most extraordinary architectural achievements of the ancient world. Built around 118–125 AD during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, the current structure replaced an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. Nearly two thousand years later, the Pantheon remains one of the best preserved monuments of Roman engineering and design. But beyond its beauty and endurance, the Pantheon also reveals a deep connection to the heavens, making it an intriguing site for the study of archaeoastronomy.

The Pantheon
The Pantheon in Rome.

The Pantheon’s most remarkable feature is its dome.  To this day it’s still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Measuring 43.3 meters (142 feet) in diameter, the dome is a perfect hemisphere, mirroring the shape of the celestial sphere. Its design was a marvel of Roman engineering: the builders used progressively lighter materials as they reached the top, mixing volcanic pumice into the concrete to reduce weight. The interior is divided into recessed rectangular panels, or coffers, which lighten the structure while also creating a mesmerizing geometric pattern that seems to draw the eye upward toward the heavens.

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Archaeoastronomy, Travel

Clava Cairns

Clava Cairns is one of Scotland’s most evocative prehistoric sites, lying just a few miles east of Inverness in the heart of the Highlands. I visited this amazing site in May of 2025 and at first glance it may appear to be little more than a scattering of stone circles and cairns, softened by moss and time, yet these ancient structures hold a story stretching back nearly 4,000 years. Built during the Bronze Age, the cairns served as sacred burial places, but they were far more than simple tombs. Their design reflects a sophisticated understanding of astronomy, the cycles of the seasons, and the deep spiritual connection between life, death, and the cosmos.

Clava Cairns South-West Cairn
Clava Cairns South-West Cairn

The site is made up of several passage graves, ring cairns, and an array of standing stones arranged with deliberate care. Archaeologists believe that the builders of Clava Cairns were not only skilled in working with stone, but also in reading the skies. The most striking evidence of this lies in the alignment of the passageways. On the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, the setting sun shines directly into the inner chambers of certain cairns, illuminating the very heart of the tomb. This was no coincidence. To the people who raised these stones, the solstice marked both the depth of winter’s darkness and the promise of light’s return, a cycle of death and rebirth mirrored in their burial rites.

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Archaeoastronomy, Travel

Chimney Rock & Archaeoastronomy

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In July 2023 my son and I spent a week in Durango, CO doing all the fun summer stuff we could including rafting down the Animas river, riding the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge train, a tour of Mesa Verde National Park and a visit to Chimney Rock National Monument. Chimney Rock is only about an hour drive from Durango.

Chimney Rock National Monument
Chimney Rock National Monument

Visiting Chimney Rock National Monument in southwestern Colorado was like stepping into a portal that connected earth, sky, and the ancient humans that once occupied that land. As we hiked the ridge trail that winds up to the base of the two towering rock pinnacles—Chimney Rock and Companion Rock—I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty and significance of this unique spot.

The landscape stretched wide in every direction, with the San Juan Mountains rising in the distance and the valley below. I could easily make out Peterson’s ridge or mesa across the way from the great house where I was told there were even more kivas and ruins. But what moved me most was not just the natural beauty—it was the knowledge that this was once a place of profound astronomical observation and ceremonial importance for the ancestral Puebloans over a thousand years ago.

Standing on that high ground, I learned how the people who lived here built structures and aligned them with cardinal points and astronomical events. Most striking was the alignment with the major lunar standstill, a rare event that occurs roughly every 18.6 years. From a specific vantage point at the Great House Pueblo, the moon rises precisely between Chimney Rock and Companion Rock during this event—a phenomenon that must have been deeply significant to them. It’s amazing to think that they observed and tracked the cycles of the moon with such precision, incorporating that knowledge into their architecture, ceremonies, and culture.

 

Chimney Rock National Monument - The Great House
Chimney Rock National Monument – The Great House

The deeper I explored the site and its history, the more I appreciated how attuned these people were to the rhythms of the cosmos. This wasn’t just a village or a ceremonial site—it was an observatory built into the land itself. To witness the same skies, the same rock formations, and to walk among their ruins was both humbling and inspiring. Chimney Rock reminded me that long before telescopes and digital star charts, humans were already charting the heavens and weaving that knowledge into the heart of their culture.

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Observatory, Travel

The Tower of the Winds and the Gregorian Calendar

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On a recent vacation trip to Rome I was lucky enough to also visit the Vatican. Our group toured the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, Papal Crypts and St. Peter’s Square. It was an amazing experience to be sure but one tower seen from the Pigna (Pinecone) Courtyard caught my eye. I had read about the “Tower of the Winds” and it’s historical importance in astronomy prior to our trip.

The Tower of the Winds at The Vatican
The Tower of the Winds or the Gregorian Tower was constructed in 1580 and is located in the Vatican.

The Tower of the Winds, also known as the Gregorian Tower, is a prominent structure in the Vatican Gardens in Rome. The tower was designed by the famous Jesuit German mathematician and astronomer Father Christopher Clavius and built in the late 16th century. Its primary purpose was to serve as an astronomical observatory for the Vatican, as well as a platform for viewing Rome.

The Tower of the Winds was equipped with several astronomical instruments, including a meridian line, a solar quadrant, and a celestial globe. These instruments allowed astronomers to accurately measure the position of celestial bodies and to determine the time of day with great precision.

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Archaeoastronomy, Travel

Visiting Stonehenge

I had been looking forward to visiting this site for years and as it turned out I had my chance in the spring of 2022. It was a bucket list item for me, and it did not disappoint.

Our driver took us to Woodhenge which is about 2 miles from Stonehenge. We stopped but it was raining so hard that we couldn’t even get out of the van. So on to Stonehenge we went, and while the sky still had a “spring shower at any moment” look to it, the rain ended and we were able to thoroughly investigate the visitor center, its surroundings and the ancient stone monument itself.

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Telescopes, Travel

The Leviathan of Parsonstown

Back in May of this year we enjoyed beautiful weather while  visiting the “Emerald Isle.”  A couple of hours drive generally west of Dublin, Ireland is the town of Birr, and Birr Castle Demesne.

The Great Telescope at Birr Castle
The Leviathan of Parsonstown.

We took a guided tour inside the castle itself which is only offered during certain months of the year. The castle is not just an unoccupied museum piece but is the home of Brendan Parsons the 7th Earl of Rosse and his wife. The Parsons family have lived at Birr Castle since 1620. They celebrated their 400th anniversary last year.

We were able to walk and explore the extensive surrounding grounds or demesne (domain) which included award winning gardens, historic science center, I-LOFAR radio telescope, lake, river, waterfall, huge treehouse playground and the main attraction I was there to see, the The Great Telescope.

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Spacecraft, Travel

Artemis I on Launch Complex 39B

Two trips to central Florida and the Kennedy Space Center in late August and early September with launch tickets in hand have unfortunately resulted in two scrubbed launch attempts of NASA’s first spaceflight of the Artemis Program.

Known as Artemis I, technically a flight test of the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that NASA will use to get back to the Moon.  This mission, if all goes as planned, should last 25.5 days and will take the unmanned Orion spacecraft to the Moon for a series of orbits and then back to Earth. Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars.

So why were the launch attempts scrubbed? An issue with one of the RS-25 engines not reaching adequate temperature halted one. The RS-25 rocket engines are the same powerplants once used by the Space Shuttle. They are the three big engines found on the back of the orbiter. There are four that are used on the SLS. Leaks during the fueling process caused the other attempts to be scrubbed. Then Hurricane Ian popped up on the radar and it was decided to call in the massive crawler to move the rocket stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to ride out the storm. As of this writing that is where Artemis I sits today.

However, things are starting to spin back up after Ian demolished much of the west coast of Florida and NASA announced today that the next attempt to launch Artemis I will come very early on Monday, Nov. 14 during a 69 minute launch window which opens at 12:07 a.m. EST. NASA has said that they plan to transport the rocket back to Launch Complex 39B as early as Friday, Nov. 4.

The gallery above contains a few shots of Artemis I as seen from the Apollo Saturn V Complex at KSC and from across the Indian River in Titusville, FL.

Eclipse, Moon, Travel

Total Solar Eclipse From Hopkinsville, KY

What a great adventure to Tennessee and Kentucky to see the Great American Total Solar Eclipse. I viewed the celestial show from Hopkinsville, KY with several coworkers who also made the long drive.

TSE 08212017 – The moment before totality

The “solar funnel” (solar projection cone) seen below that I had made a few months back in preparation for this eclipse was a huge hit with eclipse chasers! I received many compliments and plenty of return visitors to check the progress of the partial phase.

 You can view the HD video I shot before, during and after totality below. Totality begins at about 10 minutes into the video.

You can find many more of my eclipse pictures as well as pictures of the telescopes and fellow eclipse chasers on my Total Solar Eclipse – 8/21/2017 page that I’ve added to this site. Click the link just above or navigate to Astrophotoghaphy > Eclipses > Total Solar Eclipse – 08/21/2017 on the menu in the upper left on this page.